College Football 25 release brings Minnesota Gophers football to virtual world

EA Sports releases College Football 25 this week (the game officially drops Friday, but it could be played as soon as Monday if you pre-ordered it) marking the first time in 11 years that a new college football video game has been released.

NCAA 14 (released July 9, 2013) was the last college game released by EA Sports, prior to College Football 25. The sports video game giant dropped the NCAA series, which included a popular basketball series, after a lawsuit over name, image and likeness rights in 2013.

After years of NIL debate, a mixture of new state laws and NCAA rules changes in 2021 made it possible for student-athletes to cash-in and seek opportunities to make money for the name, image, and likeness rights.

"It's long waited," said Mike Wierzbicki, Senior Associate Athletic Director for External with Gopher Athletics . "Especially over the last three years when name, image, and likeness went into effect with the NCAA, here we are three years later bringing back a college football game and integrating student-athlete NIL."

Wierzbicki said EA Sports, and Collegiate Licensing Company which is the Gophers' licensing agent, took on the heavy lifting when creating and developing the new game.

"Our role is to make sure our student-athletes are aware of the opportunities and that EA Sports is within our university brand guidelines," he said. "The work that goes into creating a video game, I can't comprehend how they do what they do from an EA Sports perspective."

Every athlete that opted-into the game and has their NIL used is set to receive at least $600 and a copy of College Football 25.

Not every player who opted-in, will be in the game.

"With all the institutions represented and an 85 maximum team, that's a lot of individual agreements to operate, so there's a lot of work behind the scenes to figure out a process and create those agreements," Wierzbicki said. "From the University of Minnesota's standpoint, it's really no different than other NIL opportunities. It was really just making sure the information was available to our students. At the end of the day, it's their decision if they opt-in or not."

134 FBS schools are included in the game, along with their respective logos, players, mascots, fight songs, cheerleaders, stadiums, and more.

Whether it's Huntington Bank Stadium, the Maroon and Gold, or the Minnesota Rouser, the sites and sounds of Gopher football are captured in the virtual world for gamers new and old.

"When you think about being in front of millions of video game players, some could be potential students one day, alumni, students, or Gopher fans," Wierzbicki added. "I think that you look at how much video games are an important part for youth and our next generation, it's a tremendous opportunity when it comes to visibility and exposure of our brand as a university."

EA Sports released it's top players prior to the July 19th game release date, ranking University of Minnesota offensive lineman Aireontae Ersery as the No. 24 overall player.

Ersery is the third highest ranked left tackle in the game.

"Aireontae is not someone out there boasting about that, but it's a cool way to create a lot of buzz. There's a lot of conversation about what the Minnesota offense is ranked, what a players ranking is, and I think as the game gets unveiled there will be a lot of conversation about ratings, gameplay, and strategy. I think our students are excited about it."